Teacher: April Meyer

Student: Sally (pseudonym)

Behavioral Intervention Plan

Step 1:
Target behavior for change in one child.
Client Description
Setting

Rationale

Behavior

Sally is an 11 year old girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a sweet smile.
She is about 4 feet tall, is in 5th grade, and attends Perry Middle School.
She loves to draw and go swimming during gym.
This behavioral intervention is taking place in Sallys 5th grade science
classroom that my cooperating teacher and I push into. The class is
during ninth period and runs from 2:05 pm until 2:45 pm. The baseline
observations for this intervention began on Tuesday, October 29, 2013
and ended on Friday, November 1, 2013. The behavior I began noticing
during my observations is Sallys unwillingness to copy down her
science notes during class.
I have chosen to target Sallys unwillingness to copy down her science
notes, because this is a behavior that strongly affects Sallys academic
success in this class and is also creating a poor habit that may develop in
other classes. Her not taking down her notes does not allow her to go
back and review for future tests, quizzes, and homework assignments.
By intervening, this will help give her the drive she needs to take down
her notes in class as well as make sure that she has the information
necessary to achieve academic success on future tests, quizzes, and
homework assignments in science.
Each day in science class, Sally will sit down and take out her notebook,
textbook, and a pencil. During this class Sally often distracts herself with
her pencils or key chains and neglects to copy down her science notes.

Step 2:
System of data collection used to document the identified behavior.
Description and
For my data collection, I kept track of the number of times there were
Rationale for Data
notes to copy down in science class as well as the number of times Sally
Collection Procedure copied down the notes during class. I observed her for four days to get
an idea of how often Sally would and would not copy down her science
notes. I chose to collect my data based on the number of times Sally
copied down her science notes out of the number of times there were
notes to copy down. To be more specific, when I stated number of
times there were notes to copy down, it refers to if there were notes to
copy down on a given day or not. For my data collection, Sally can
either receive a 1/1 (100%), 0/1 (0%), or 0/0 (which does not affect
Sallys total average percentage). The 0/0 simply means there were no
notes that needed to be taken that day and, therefore, Sally did not copy
down any notes. As far as the sticker chart is concerned, Sally will still
receive a sticker on the days where there are no notes to copy down,
because she is still doing as she is supposed to in class and should be
rewarded for it.
Baseline Data
Data
Total number of times there
were notes to copy down
4
during class
Number of times Sally
copied down the notes during
1
class
Number of times Sally
Day 1
0/1
copied down the notes to the
Day 2
0/1
number of times there were
Day 3
1/1
notes to copy down
Day 4
0/1
Daily percentage at which
Day 1
0%
Sally copied down the notes
Day 2
0%
during class
Day 3
100%
Day 4
0%
Average percentage at which
Sally copied down the notes
25%
during class
Summary Out of the 4 times in which there were notes to copy down
notes in class, Sally had only copied them down once. This
means, that in the four days I was observing her, Sally was
only copying down her notes 25% of the time. This average
is quite low and means that she is missing a majority of the
notes that were given in class. If this behavior continues, she
will not have the information she needs to study for future
tests and quizzes or to complete homework assignments
which can have a harmful effect on her academic success in

science class. If she adapts this behavior in other classes, it

could affect her academic success in those classes as well.
Behavioral Objective After implementing a behavioral intervention that rewards Sally for
taking down the notes in science class, Sally will copy down the notes in
science class when there are notes that need to be copied down at least
85% of the time.
Baseline
During the baseline phase, Sally was neglecting to copy down her notes
Characteristics
during science class and, instead, was often distracting herself with small
trinkets she would bring in from home. This behavior is taking away
from her learning in the classroom and is leaving her with little
information needed to successfully complete future assignments, tests,
and quizzes.
Below, you will find a graph of my baseline data from the four days I spent observing Sally
before implementing the intervention.

Step 3:
Discussion with student and plan for observation.
Chosen Intervention

Plan for Observation

and Conversation
with Student

After carefully reviewing the baseline data I collected, I decided to

integrate two different interventions into one. I have chosen to create an
academic contract that has both Sally and I sign in agreement that if Sally
copies down her science notes at least 85% of the time, she may choose
from the prize box which is filled with goodies such as candy, small toys,
DVDs, video games, stuffed animals, school supplies, and more. To keep
track of the times when there are noes to copy down and the times when
Sally actually copies down the notes, we will use a sticker chart.
On Monday, November 4, 2013 during 3rd period resource, I will be
speaking with Sally about this intervention; the intervention will take
immediate effect on this same day beginning 9th period during science
class. I plan on simply explaining to her that I have noticed she does not
really want to take down her notes in science class and is often
preoccupied during this time. I will explain that if she were to take her
notes it would really help her do well on her homework assignments,
tests, and quizzes; it is also a form of studying and writing things down
helps you to remember them. I plan on explaining what I came up with
to help encourage her to copy down her notes. I will show her the
contract and explain that in order for her to be rewarded she must get a
certain amount of stickers (85%) which she will get when she takes down
her notes in class. I will explain that she must also take down all of her
notes each day in order to get a stickerif she only copies down a
portion of the notes, and not all of them, she will not receive a sticker
that day. Then I will tell her that I will be checking her notebook each
day to make sure she has all of her notes copied down for that day (if
there are any that need to be copied down). I will ask her if she agrees to
this and, if she says yes, we will each sign two copies of the contract
one for her and one for me. I will also inform her that this will begin
today in 9th period.

Step 4:
Conduct and summarize the intervention as well as graph it.
Summary of
Intervention

After observing Sally during the eight day intervention portion of this
intervention, I noticed that each day she was not distracted by small
objects and she was paying attention in class to when she needed to take
down her notes. At the end of the period she was eager to show me that
she had copied down her notes and made sure that I gave her a sticker for
the day. During this intervention period, Sally copied down her notes
every day they were given which means that the total average percentage
for taking down her science notes was 100% which is a significant 75%
increase from the 25% she had averaged before the intervention began.

Below, you will find a graph of my baseline data (collected over 4 days) as well as my
intervention data (collected over 8 days) from the entire twelve day span I spent observing
Sallys behaviors.

Note: The following page shows my original data collection sheet with all the data I collected on
Sallys behavior both before and after implementing the intervention.

Step 5:
Discussion in written narrative.
Conclusion
Regarding
Behavior Change

In regards to Sallys behavior, the intervention produced a change. She

became less distracted with small objects and began paying more attention
in class to see when she would need to take down her notes. She was
keeping up with the teacher, following along during textbook reading, and
most importantlycopying down her notes. Sally had copied down her
notes every day during the eight day intervention period. Her total average
percentage for taking down her science notes from her baseline to her
intervention had increase by 75% going from 25% to 100%. According to
the objective I had developed for Sally, she was required to copy down her
notes at least 85% of the time they were given. Sally has exceeded this
criteria by 15% which tells me that this intervention was highly successful.
Influences on
There were no unusual events that occurred during the course of the
Outcome
intervention that may have influenced the outcome of this project.
Steps for
In order to ensure continued success, Sally will continue to have a sticker
Continued
chart. However, instead of getting to choose a prize after meeting the
Success
criteria over an eight day period, she will get to choose a prize after meeting
the criteria over a twelve day period. As the year continues, the period will
be increased by half after each have ended. For example, after the twelve
day period has ended then the period for the next sticker chart will be
increased to eighteen days and after the eighteen day period has ended then
the next period will be increased to a twenty seven day period and so on.
Sally must still continue to reach the same criteria for each period. She
must still copy down the notes in science classwhen there are notes that
need to be copied downat least 85% of the time.
Recommendations If I am to implement this intervention in the future, I would like to put more
for Improvement responsibility on the student in which the intervention is being implemented.
I would check during class to make sure the student is copying down his or
her notes and simply put a sticker on his or her chart without telling him or
her. In doing this, the student is not constantly having me check his or her
notes at the end of class every day. If I do not check it at the end of class
every day, the student is not constantly reminded that he or she must copy
down his or her notes. He or she is becoming more self-reliant and has to
remember that he or she must still copy down the notes even though I am
not making it known that I am checking it daily.
Making Use of
As a teacher, it is important to know what types of interventions will be
This Information effective for certain behaviors your students may be showing. After
implementing an effective intervention, I can use this to help my future
students who also neglect to copy down their notes during class. However,
this intervention can also be used for other behaviors such as completing
homework, handing in assignments on time, or even for raising your hand
instead of calling out. It is a great tool to have un my belt as a teacher.

Original Data Collection Sheet